The Humble Botanicula Debut - 4/26 non-game bonuses added

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A new Humble Bundle is now out. This one is games from Amanita Design, including Botanicula which has just been released today. As usual games are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux as DRM free downloads. Steam keys are only available for purchases over $5.

The games in the bundle are:
  • Botanicula
  • Machinarium
  • Samorost 2
  • Windosill*
  • Kooky* (a feature length animated film)

*Only for purchases above average.

http://www.humblebundle.com/

4/26 Bonus Update:
Amanita Design is upping the ante with oodles of bonus content: a Botanicula art book & map collection, a Kooky bonus pack featuring behind-the-scenes photographs & concept art film, the independent album Zorya from Machinarium soundtrack artist Floex (a.k.a. Tomáš Dvořák), and the independent album HU from Botanicula soundtrack artist DVA.

And finally, Amanita Design's experimental interactive music project Osada has been added to the main download list above.
 
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[quote name='sunghost']LOL yeah, luckily I was logged in before he posted it.[/QUOTE]


Haha, I can't believe it actually worked. I was hoping no lurkers would take a peak at the spoiler. Enjoy!

And sorry kodave! :D
 
Bought every HB Bundle except the Voltron one. Really debating on this one though. I already own Machinarium and Samorost 2. Kinda interested in Windosill and Botanicula but not $8+ interested. The charity is cool but if I want to donate to charity, I can always donate myself directly at any time. The true value of these bundles is not the money itself but the increased awareness of the charity (kinda like advertisment).

What to do? What to do? :(
 
Ugh I'm so torn. I hate point/click games but I greatly support saving our rainforests. Normally I'd throw in money just for that but I'm kinda concerned over how they screwed over GOG too, from what I've seen GOG is no Steam but it's still pretty cool (they gave me Fallout for free, that's gotta count for something).

I dunno, maybe I'll just throw in a few cents now then increase if the average lowers or something. I've already bought 2 other indie bundles today too, and with how distracting Xenoblade has been I doubt I'll even get to those.
 
[quote name='voken']Bought every HB Bundle except the Voltron one. Really debating on this one though. I already own Machinarium and Samorost 2. Kinda interested in Windosill and Botanicula but not $8+ interested. The charity is cool but if I want to donate to charity, I can always donate myself directly at any time. The true value of these bundles is not the money itself but the increased awareness of the charity (kinda like advertisment).

What to do? What to do? :([/QUOTE]


FWIW, Windosill sells for $3 regular price and tends to go on sale for $1 during the summer/winter Steam sales.

http://www.steamprices.com/us/app/37600/windosill

If you really want Botanicula and need a Steam key you can just go $5. If you don't need a Steam key you can go even less.

I wouldn't let Windosill sway you to a much higher price point though. The game itself is just not worth that much.
 
[quote name='Motoki']FWIW, Windosill sells for $3 regular price and tends to go on sale for $1 during the summer/winter Steam sales.

http://www.steamprices.com/us/app/37600/windosill

If you really want Botanicula and need a Steam key you can just go $5. If you don't need a Steam key you can go even less.

I wouldn't let Windosill sway you to a much higher price point though. The game itself is just not worth that much.[/QUOTE]

I don't put much stock in that site, I don't know how they come up with their rankings but I find it highly unreliable. Even now, under "Top Savings" they've got Rage listed at $30, when I (and most of you lol) just got it a month ago at BB for $5.

Not that Rage isn't worth $30, but that's not a bargain in relation to, say, Amazon, who has the PC version for $20 right now.
 
[quote name='rcerboss']I don't put much stock in that site, I don't know how they come up with their rankings but I find it highly unreliable. Even now, under "Top Savings" they've got Rage listed at $30, when I (and most of you lol) just got it a month ago at BB for $5.

Not that Rage isn't worth $30, but that's not a bargain in relation to, say, Amazon, who has the PC version for $20 right now.[/QUOTE]

It's prices that games have been on steam. It's pretty accurate.
 
[quote name='rcerboss']I don't put much stock in that site, I don't know how they come up with their rankings but I find it highly unreliable. Even now, under "Top Savings" they've got Rage listed at $30, when I (and most of you lol) just got it a month ago at BB for $5.

Not that Rage isn't worth $30, but that's not a bargain in relation to, say, Amazon, who has the PC version for $20 right now.[/QUOTE]


I'm not talking about their rankings, I am talking about the price history which is accurate. Windosill is $3. It has been $1 on the summer and winter sales. If you don't believe me go look it up and some site you do put much stock in. :roll:

*edit:

Here is the same info from Steamgamesales.com

http://www.steamgamesales.com/DR5R1/windosill
 
Very happy I read some of your thoughts. I too have bought every bundle since #2, and was ready to grab this one out of habit. After reading some of the points in this thread, I'm reconsidering.

This mess with GOG is already really scummy. I watched GOG's spring conference and they spent a lot of time on Botanicula as part of their push for more indie games. I can't put the blame on the Humble Bundle but this can't be a comfortable time for GOG and I'm impressed by their generosity.

I understand the hike for the Steam keys, especially with this being a new release, but the price is now prohibitively high. The likelihood that Botanicula will be under $5 on Steam soon enough, especially after everyone will own a copy with this sale, along with Windosill costing less on Steam than the premium to unlock it, and the fact that Machinarium and Samorost 2 have been available multiple times before, all combine to make this not too humble a bundle at all. Isn't the idea to make those who pay next to nothing for these feel bad by offering such an enticing package, to encourage generosity? You know something has gone wrong when people are suggesting each other to pay $.01 to lower the average. Charity is really the only redeeming part of it.

I'll be very interested in the sales for this one. While the average may be at an all-time high, I'd guess that the total payments will be at a relative low.
 
The only game I dont own is obviously the new game, but I dont want it enough to pay $5 for a steam key. Not a bright choice I feel for this bundle.

They should have made Botanicula the bonus game for donating more than the average, yet still give steam keys to anyone who wanted them. I dont really want Botanicula, but for those that did they probably would have gladly paid anything under $10 for it if it also came with 4-5 other games since Botanicula is new.

I threw in a buck to see what Botanicula is about.
 
I think the problem with Humble is while they started out with the 'bundle' concept they have slowly evolved into essentially a 'publisher' for a somewhat discreet amount of indie developers. Nothing wrong with that; however, it's just a deviation from what most of us have grown accustom to with all of the other bundles popping up. Only their 'numbered' bundles have had a significant amount of diversity. The rest, well, they should probably just stop calling them 'bundles' and just run them as promotions on a centralized website. They already have the Humble Store which you see a lot of indie developers use as a proxy for their own stores on their sites.
 
[quote name='Mooby']The rest, well, they should probably just stop calling them 'bundles' and just run them as promotions on a centralized website.[/QUOTE]
Technically, this latest one isn't called a bundle. The official name is "The Humble
Botanicula Debut."
 
[quote name='voken']Bought every HB Bundle except the Voltron one. [/QUOTE]

I'm really not this much of a nerd, but I do just have to point out that the bundle was Voxatron and had almost nothing to do with giant robots.
 
So all the keys are bundled? Or did I see Windosill is separate?

Wish I could buy it and give all the games except Botanicula to a friend who is new to Steam.
 
[quote name='warreni']I'm really not this much of a nerd, but I do just have to point out that the bundle was Voxatron and had almost nothing to do with giant robots.[/QUOTE]

It'd be a lot cooler if it did, man.
6a00d83514497653ef010536c16a4f970c-800wi.jpg
 
[quote name='BigSpoonyBard']It'd be a lot cooler if it did, man.
6a00d83514497653ef010536c16a4f970c-800wi.jpg
[/QUOTE]

I wish I could comment that even though I get older, bundles stay the same price.
 
[quote name='utopianmachine']So all the keys are bundled? Or did I see Windosill is separate?[/QUOTE]

Botanicula, Machinarium, and Samorost 2 are combined into one Steam key. Windosill is a separate Steam key (being a bonus).

Humble Bundle does at most two Steam keys: one for the basic bundle, and one for the "above the average" bonus games (if applicable). If you already own a game included in one of the keys, you do not get to gift the extra copy included in the key.
http://support.humblebundle.com/cus...ability-to-gift-the-extra-copy-in-the-bundle-
 
The harsh limits on price this time around and the fact that Samarost and Machinarium have been in so many various bundles and sales that I have more copies than I can count make this bundle not worth it to me. If the trend with this dev follows I wont have to wait long before botanicula is in another bundle.
 
[quote name='warreni']I'm really not this much of a nerd, but I do just have to point out that the bundle was Voxatron and had almost nothing to do with giant robots.[/QUOTE]


I got the Voltron 'bundle' as a kid -- convinced my parents it was more economically efficient to buy the package rather than the five lions individually over time~
 
Emailed Humble Support with a link to this thread and some of my thoughts. I don't want to seem entitled, but I think those folks should know if people are dissatisfied so they can provide a better service in the future. Here's their reply, a statement from Jefferey Rosen, co-founder of the Bundle!

Hey Josh, I’m sorry that this bundle is disappointing for you. Regarding GOG, Amanita has released this statement on their blog with freebies: http://amanita-design.net/blog/2012/04/20/apology-to-botanicula-pre-orderers/ and GOG is giving out the Witcher 2. We are working on our own humble apology as well to the people who preordered on GOG.

The Steam key minimum will be back to $1 after this bundle. Botanicula is a special case since it is a brand new debut and is not even being sold on Steam yet! Amanita requested a $5 minimum and we thought that seemed reasonable.

Jeffrey Rosen
Co-Founder
Humble Bundle
 
[quote name='Mooby']I got the Voltron 'bundle' as a kid -- convinced my parents it was more economically efficient to buy the package rather than the five lions individually over time~[/QUOTE]

You can still buy the Voltron bundle, but the lions are plastic now, not metal.
 
[quote name='Drabelincoln']You can still buy the Voltron bundle, but the lions are plastic now, not metal.[/QUOTE]

Another tragic example of bundles getting worse over time. . . .
 
[quote name='nitman99']Emailed Humble Support with a link to this thread and some of my thoughts. I don't want to seem entitled, but I think those folks should know if people are dissatisfied so they can provide a better service in the future. Here's their reply, a statement from Jefferey Rosen, co-founder of the Bundle!

Hey Josh, I’m sorry that this bundle is disappointing for you. Regarding GOG, Amanita has released this statement on their blog with freebies: http://amanita-design.net/blog/2012/04/20/apology-to-botanicula-pre-orderers/ and GOG is giving out the Witcher 2. We are working on our own humble apology as well to the people who preordered on GOG.

The Steam key minimum will be back to $1 after this bundle. Botanicula is a special case since it is a brand new debut and is not even being sold on Steam yet! Amanita requested a $5 minimum and we thought that seemed reasonable.

Jeffrey Rosen
Co-Founder
Humble Bundle[/QUOTE]

Wow, awesome that they care so much to reply!
 
[quote name='nitman99']Emailed Humble Support with a link to this thread and some of my thoughts. I don't want to seem entitled, but I think those folks should know if people are dissatisfied so they can provide a better service in the future. Here's their reply, a statement from Jefferey Rosen, co-founder of the Bundle!

Hey Josh, I’m sorry that this bundle is disappointing for you. Regarding GOG, Amanita has released this statement on their blog with freebies: http://amanita-design.net/blog/2012/04/20/apology-to-botanicula-pre-orderers/ and GOG is giving out the Witcher 2. We are working on our own humble apology as well to the people who preordered on GOG.

The Steam key minimum will be back to $1 after this bundle. Botanicula is a special case since it is a brand new debut and is not even being sold on Steam yet! Amanita requested a $5 minimum and we thought that seemed reasonable.

Jeffrey Rosen
Co-Founder
Humble Bundle[/QUOTE]

It's cool that Amanita decided to give some more bonuses to people that preordered.. but the humble bundle is still a better deal. It's still screwing over people that preordered, but lessens the blow I guess. I figured that the steam keys would go back to $1 after this bundle, but it may not have been a wise choice to have Botanicula debut in a humble bundle to begin with.
 
[quote name='sunghost']It's cool that Amanita decided to give some more bonuses to people that preordered.. but the humble bundle is still a better deal. It's still screwing over people that preordered, but lessens the blow I guess. I figured that the steam keys would go back to $1 after this bundle, but it may not have been a wise choice to have Botanicula debut in a humble bundle to begin with.[/QUOTE]


I appreciate their sentiment and the fact that they didn't have to say anything at all, however I kind of think they don't get what the real problem is.

Amanita in their blog post said:

...we made a mistake and let GOG and GG make pre-orders...
Click to expand...


But I think reply #10 to their post summed it up well

10. rade
April 20, 2012

To Amanita:
How come you say it’s a mistake that you let GG and GoG take preorders? The game was on preorder for weeks on GoG and gave you a lot of exposure. You’ve just undermined the sales on all DD sites (Steam as well) when you decided for HiB bundle. The mistake was to make HiB budle at debut. You should have waited for six more months to give everybody who purchased for full price the sense of exclusivity and value.

By going forward with HiB debut bundle you took the value from the game, especially for those who preordered and for others that payed full price on the site hre.
Click to expand...
 
GOG is awesome. I'm glad that it comes out of this smelling like a rose for handling the issue with such grace.
 
I have a quick question that hopefully someone can answer.

Is windosil worth paying $3.82 more for or should I just do $5 if I want the steam keys.

Mind you I only have
Machinarium
 
[quote name='clonesniper666']I have a quick question that hopefully someone can answer.

Is windosil worth paying $3.82 more for or should I just do $5 if I want the steam keys.

Mind you I only have
Machinarium[/QUOTE]

Windosil is $3 on Steam.. so if you have no interest in the movie you get for beating the average, just pay $5 for the Steam key and buy Windosil later on Steam if you find yourself wanting it later.
 
[quote name='clonesniper666']I have a quick question that hopefully someone can answer.

Is windosil worth paying $3.82 more for or should I just do $5 if I want the steam keys.

Mind you I only have
Machinarium[/QUOTE]
If you don't care about the movie, Windosill is actually on $3 on Steam separately, so the beat the average is a bit of a rip-off. Of course they may add something later but you can always add to your order, the average hasn't changed much in the last few days.
Edit: Beat to it.
 
A bunch of bonuses were just added.

Amanita Design is upping the ante with oodles of bonus content: a Botanicula art book & map collection, a Kooky bonus pack featuring behind-the-scenes photographs & concept art film, the independent album Zorya from Machinarium soundtrack artist Floex (a.k.a. Tomáš Dvořák), and the independent album HU from Botanicula soundtrack artist DVA.

And finally, Amanita Design's experimental interactive music project Osada has been added to the main download list above.
 
Sorry but I think I am just going to go 'meh' to all that. I don't really see this as a bundle but rather a $5 sale on one game with a bunch of extras.

I still think the whole idea of this thing is poorly implemented and not really what, in my opinion, humble bundle should be about. If Amanita wanted to sell the game at $5 on launch with extras why not just do it through the normal store channels like Steam, Gamersgate, GOG etc and then just donate a portion of their procedes to charity themselves?
 
[quote name='Motoki']Sorry but I think I am just going to go 'meh' to all that. I don't really see this as a bundle but rather a $5 sale on one game with a bunch of extras.

I still think the whole idea of this thing is poorly implemented and not really what, in my opinion, humble bundle should be about. If Amanita wanted to sell the game at $5 on launch with extras why not just do it through the normal store channels like Steam, Gamersgate, GOG etc and then just donate a portion of their procedes to charity themselves?[/QUOTE]

Well, they never called this one a bundle. The Humble Bundle people actually use their store software to sell indie games on dev websites outside of bundles. It could be argued that this one just was worthy of their frontpage. Or you could argue it's all semantics. ;)

As for why, I think that has to do with this being the only way they were going to make $300k+ in a week after the charity and store cuts. It's a much more niche game if it's just listed on Steam/GOG.
 
[quote name='Motoki']Sorry but I think I am just going to go 'meh' to all that. I don't really see this as a bundle but rather a $5 sale on one game with a bunch of extras.

I still think the whole idea of this thing is poorly implemented and not really what, in my opinion, humble bundle should be about. If Amanita wanted to sell the game at $5 on launch with extras why not just do it through the normal store channels like Steam, Gamersgate, GOG etc and then just donate a portion of their procedes to charity themselves?[/QUOTE]
To be fair to Amanita Design, this isn't the first bundle to focus on one game, and isn't even the first game launch. The Frozen Synapse Bundle was originally just the one game, with other games and the Frozenbyte Bundle bonus added later. Humble Voxatron Debut was also a launch title and was also initially only one game, with others added later. The Humble Mojam was initially also just one 48-hour game until other developers joined it soon after it launched.

Humble Bundle, the site, seems to mix things up and isn't just focused on delivering one bundle of games after another.
 
[quote name='louiedog']Well, they never called this one a bundle.[/QUOTE]

And yet the webpage is called Humble Bundle. :philosoraptor:
 
Wow, that is the highest average price I've ever seen on Humble Bundle! Anyone else here think those incredibly generous donations by Humble Brony and lorauwar so early on are killing the momentum of this bundle? With all these other indie bundles hitting so close recently, I think this one is more than a bit out of my budget.
 
[quote name='sykotek']Wow, that is the highest average price I've ever seen on Humble Bundle! Anyone else here think those incredibly generous donations by Humble Brony and lorauwar so early on are killing the momentum of this bundle? With all these other indie bundles hitting so close recently, I think this one is more than a bit out of my budget.[/QUOTE]

I think the $5 min for Steam keys played a much larger part by not dragging it down. There are a lot fewer people grabbing Steam keys to later trade/sell at that price. They've also shifted a lot more to putting new content as above average bonuses rather than previous bundle content.
 
[quote name='sykotek']Wow, that is the highest average price I've ever seen on Humble Bundle! Anyone else here think those incredibly generous donations by Humble Brony and lorauwar so early on are killing the momentum of this bundle? With all these other indie bundles hitting so close recently, I think this one is more than a bit out of my budget.[/QUOTE]
If you removed their two donations, the average price right now would drop two cents to $8.78. Even earlier on, I doubt their donations affected the average by more than a few cents.

I think the biggest factor is the $5 minimum for the Steam key. Many people buy these deals specifically for the Steam keys, and $5 is still cheaper than buying it from other places. So the average price is being inflated due to the cheapasses who pay the Steam minimum paying $5 this time instead of $1 or $0.01 in earlier bundles. The Windows donators are known for being the cheapest (likely partially because Windows is the default selection and most people don't change it) and even their average is well over $5.
 
I'm so used to paying more than the average, I didn't even know there was an increase to $5 for Steam keys. Has it not been like that for awhile?

@marsilies: That doesn't make sense, you can't just take out their 2 donations now when they have influenced the average price from the beginning and automatically assume that everyone who paid over average would've paid the exact same amounts as they have. ...and if what you mentioned were true about people buying tons of $5 Steam keys, the average would have dropped to be much closer to $5 than the $8-9 it is now.
 
[quote name='sykotek']I'm so used to paying more than the average, I didn't even know there was an increase to $5 for Steam keys. Has it not been like that for awhile?[/QUOTE]

There wasn't any minimum for Steam keys until the Steam holiday promotion. There was a Humble Bundle at the same time. People would buy 100 keys for $1 and activate them on new Steam accounts to get prizes and coupons. They bumped it up to $1 minimum after a few days and kept that in every bundle since to stop people from further abusing them.

They imposed a $5 minimum in this one because it features a brand new game and have said that it will return to $1 in the future.
 
[quote name='sykotek']I'm so used to paying more than the average, I didn't even know there was an increase to $5 for Steam keys. Has it not been like that for awhile?[/quote]
It used to be all purchases got Steam keys, even $0.01. Then around Christmas they saw a huge number of $0.01 purchases by people trying to exploit Steam's Christmas promotion. After that, they raised it to a minimum of $1 in order to get a Steam code. This is the first one that had a $5 minimum, due to it being a new release title, but it will likely drop back to $1 for other bundles.

[quote name='sykotek']@marsilies: That doesn't make sense, you can't just take out their 2 donations now when they have influenced the average price from the beginning and automatically assume that everyone who paid over average would've paid the exact same amounts as they have. [/quote]
If people were pledging specifically based on the current average price, and priced either at the average or slightly above, that means that the two large donations likely caused those people to pay a few cents more than they would've. This would cause a exponential increase in the average price, but on a minor scale. Even assuming those two donations boosted the average price $0.08 (or about 4x their current effect), that's still only 1% of the average price, meaning people would pay 1% more than if those donations hadn't been made.

[quote name='sykotek']...and if what you mentioned were true about people buying tons of $5 Steam keys, the average would have dropped to be much closer to $5 than the $8-9 it is now.[/QUOTE]
The $5 donations are dropping the average, but not on the scale that the 1¢ or $1 purchases in the past have.

Let's take two people, one who beats the average, and one who pays the absolute minimum for Steam keys. Taking a "beat the average" price of $8.80:

$8.80 + $5 = $13.80 --> $6.9 average
$8.80 + $1 = $9.80 --> $4.9 average
$8.80 + 1¢ = $8.81 --> $4.41 average

So the $1 and $0.01 purchases in the past were able to offset the higher "beat the average" prices much more, keeping the average price lower.
 
[quote name='sykotek']Wow, that is the highest average price I've ever seen on Humble Bundle! Anyone else here think those incredibly generous donations by Humble Brony and lorauwar so early on are killing the momentum of this bundle? With all these other indie bundles hitting so close recently, I think this one is more than a bit out of my budget.[/QUOTE]

These ponies must be stopped!
 
I found the stats page for prior Humble bundles.

@Mooby: Only if they're actually hurting the Humble Bundle...that still remains to be seen though. Don't get me wrong, I'm not buying it just because I can't currently afford to donate what I'd want since all those other bundles hit at around the same time and I'm not one of those pay a penny guys.
 
[quote name='M3wThr33']I wonder how much I could bring down the average if I spent 1 penny 500 times.[/QUOTE]

You would bring down the average by about 6 cents.

Edit: Damn my slow calculator. I need to overclock that thing.
 
Hopefully they'll add a new game before the bundle ends. The bonuses they added are nice but I'm sure a lot of people were expecting a new game considering every single Humble Bundle so far has had a game added as a bonus.
 
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